Variation in DNA content among age classes of broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus) from the Sagavanirktok River delta
Variation in cellular DNA content between age-classes was measured in 111 individuals of the Sagavanirktok River delta population of the broad whitefish, Coregonus nasus, using flow cytometry. Mean DNA content for the species was 7.07 pg. Deviations from normal distributions were found within age-class samples and for the entire sample. Intraspecific variation exceeding 75% of mean genome size, nearly twice that found in studies of other vertebrates, was most similar to that found in a study of coastal samples of a congener, the Arctic cisco (Coregonus autumnalis). This study illustrates the need for large sample sizes to account for karyotypic variability and population structure when reporting DNA content values for individual taxa.